Parrot Talk

Hello. I'm Pete, the talking parrot. I'm a friend of Miss Debbie's and we've come to visit. I sing and dance the "Squawk Walk". Awwwwwk! Hate to brag, but in some circles I'm known as an (ahem) "communication experience". So who needs Disney world?

Word is that you have some pictures of me and other things at your tables. What? You call them what? Pic symbols - Awwk! What are Pic symbols?

Oh...I get it...Pic Symbols came before Apps. Awwk! They're nothing but pictures. That picture of me on the right is pretty good, I'll have to admit. If you can't write or speak, you just point to the picture and then grownups know what you are trying to tell them — and vice versa.

Pretty funny, huh Camden? I know you're just a kid! Awwk! But you can point to pictures – even if you can't write or speak yet. You can point to "I want" and "crayon" and later your teacher can point to "clean up". It's just another "communication experience" – like me! Awwk! Lots of kids like you – even grownups – have learning delays of one kind or another. You know – things like autism, autism spectrum disorder, down syndrome, aphasia, apraxia and other tongue-twisters.

Guess what? Now they've put Pic Symbols on computers. You can press a picture of me and who knows where you end up? You might even learn something. Try it! Click on the parrot —>


Some computer Pic Symbols lead to Apps (Application software). I see you have Apps in your classroom: you've got them on iPads, on your portable TAP∙it and even on your wall-sized interactive whiteboard, the one you call the Promethian. Well, guess what again...I'm interactive too! Sometimes I can repeat back what you say.


And, so, Ellie, why do you laugh? Haven't I properly boggled your mind?

But enough about me. Let's talk about you. What do you think of me?...What's that? You don't think I can sing and dance? Well watch this video. And Camden says he wants to show us his own "communication experience" out on the play ground. And I my friends want to show off as well – on the Promethian.


http://youtu.be/uQ2Xp_f8kJQ

Don't miss this!
On Sunday, July 15, CBS's 60 Minutes aired a powerful 13-minute segment on how Steve Jobs' iPad technology has opened the world of communication for the autistic. See Apps for Autism: Communicating on the iPad. Click here —>